Part 34 (2/2)
”You mean green, do you not, Taliesin? I think autumn should be gold.”
”No,” replied Taliesin. ”Autumn is gray.”
”Gray?” Blaise shook his head in bewilderment. ”The things you say, Taliesin. What do you think, Hafgan?”
The druid did not answer. ”What color is spring, Taliesin?”
”White.”
”And winter? What color?”
”Winter is black.”
Blaise laughed. ”Summer is the only season of color in your world, Taliesin. Do you realize that?”
”Of course,” he answered without hesitation, swinging the willow wand easily. ”That is why I am going to be King of the Summer and my realm will be known as the Kingdom of Summer. While I am king there will be no winter, no autumn, and no spring.”
”Only summer?” said Blaise suddenly serious. He had caught the wistful note in the boy's voice and had stopped laughing.
”Only summer. There will be no darkness and no dying, and the land will flow with all good things.” Taliesin became quiet then and said no more. The three walked on in silence, listening to the woodland sounds.
They reached the settlement by midday. Dolgellau lay in a shallow, wooded valley beside a fresh cold-water stream. It had no gates, no walls, or earthwork defenses, but relied on seclusion and the strength of its neighbors for safety. The people welcomed them cordially, for Cormach had served them long and well as bard, counselor, prophet, and physician. The fain chief saw Hafgan's staff and hastened to meet him. ”We made a bier for him,” he said. ”Bard told us to hew it out of new hawthorn.”
Hafgan nodded.
”It is what he wanted. We have done all he asked and I regret that we could not do more.”
”I am certain you have done well,” Hafgan told him. ”We will take him now. You and your people may accompany us if you wish.”
”Will you require horses?”
”No, we will carry him.”
”Let it be as you wish.” They moved through the village under the lively scrutiny of the clansmen. Blaise leaned close to Hafgan and whispered, ”Why are they looking at us like that?”
”It is Taliesin they are looking at,” Hafgan answered. Taliesin, however, appeared perfectly oblivious to the attention he was getting and walked with his head erect, eyes straight ahead.
Yes, thought Hafgan, he is the King of Summer and his reign will know neither cold nor darkness. But summer is short in the Island of the Mighty, Taliesin, and winter will not be held back forever. All things yield in their season. Still, let the light s.h.i.+ne, lad; while it burns, let it dazzle the greedy night like starfall.
They arrived at a small thatched hut at the far end of the settlement. Three of the Brotherhood sat on the ground outside the hut, each in his blue robe; the empty bier lay nearby, covered with boughs of fir and yew. When they saw Hafgan they all stood.
Hafgan greeted them by name. ”Kellan, Ynawc, Selyv, is all in order here?”
Selyv answered, ”All is in order. The body has been prepared, and I have sent the others to the grove to await us there.”
”Good,” said Hafgae. He stooped and pushed his way through the deerskin hanging at the door of the hut. A moment later he held back the hide flap and beckoned Blaise and Taliesin to enter.
Taliesin followed Blaise and found himself in a single-room dwelling which had no windows but only a round smoke hole in the roof to let in light and let out the smoke from the hearth in the center of the room. Stretched out on his bed of rushes lay the body of Cormach, his hands folded over his chest. Two tallow candles-one at the Chief Druid's head, another at his feet-cast a thin yellow glow against the limed mud wall.
Taliesin looked at the body and was struck by the fact that it no longer looked like Cormach. There was no doubt that it had had been the Chief Druid-the features and shape were the same-but it was clear that Cormach himself had utterly vanished. The spirit that had animated the body was gone, and its absence made the husk on the ground seem terribly frail and inconsequential, a residue, a mere afterthought of the person that had been. been the Chief Druid-the features and shape were the same-but it was clear that Cormach himself had utterly vanished. The spirit that had animated the body was gone, and its absence made the husk on the ground seem terribly frail and inconsequential, a residue, a mere afterthought of the person that had been.
”He is gone,” whispered Taliesin. He had not viewed many dead bodies and lowered his voice in the corpse's presence as he would in a sickroom. ”Cormach is gone.”
”Yes,” agreed Hafgan. ”He is well on his journey now.”
He touched Blaise on the arm and stepped to the corpse's head; Blaise took his place at the feet.
Hafgan spoke a few words in the secret tongue of the Brotherhood and placed his hands on either side of Cormach's head. Blaise repeated the words and put his hands around the cold, stiff feet. They said the words once more, in unison, and lifted the body. If there was any exertion to their movements, Taliesin did not detect it, for it seemed as if the corpse floated freely under the lightest of touches.
The druids stood and turned the body so that it would go through the door. ”Taliesin, hold aside the deerskin,” instructed Hafgan, ”and do not forget his staff.”
The boy came to himself with a start, darted to the doorway, and pulled back the deerskin hanging. Hafgan and Blaise stepped through, bearing Cormach's body between them. The other druids held the bier ready, and with the gentlest of efforts the body of the Chief Druid was placed upon it.
Taliesin ducked back inside the hut, found Cormach's staff where the body had been, retrieved it, and joined Blaise and the other druids, who had begun covering the body with fir boughs. When the body was covered-except for the head, which Hafgan still held between his hands-the druids, one at each corner of the bier, raised the green-mounded platform. It rose from the ground as lightly as wool drifting on the wind.
”Take the staff, Taliesin,” Hafgan told him. ”Raise it before the hut.”
Holding the staff in both hands, Taliesin raised it as high as he could. Hafgan spoke a phrase in the secret tongue, paused, and repeated it twice again. In a few moments wisps of smoke began ascending from the smoke hole in the roof and out from under the deerskin in the doorway. Taliesin held the staff between his hands and watched bright orange flames creep up the outside of the wattle hut. The fire drew the fain who observed with silent curiosity as flames engulfed the hut and the thatch roof collapsed inward.
The druids turned the bier then and, began walking back through Dolgellau, Taliesin going before them with Cormach's staff in his hands. They crossed the stream at the ford and then took the path leading from the woods and into the hills. A good many of the clansmen followed them, making a fair-sized procession.
They walked without hurry, but the distance shrank so that they reached Garth Greggyn in almost no time at all. It seemed to Taliesin that they merely walked out of the forest, over a hill and were there, in the valley of the spring Below the sacred grove. The druids ascended the hill to the grove where the rest of the Brotherhood had gathered. The clansmen followed but timidly and at a distance.
The bier was carried into the center of the grove and placed on two upright stones. The druids closed around, each with a branch or bough from a tree. Hafgan raised his hands shoulder high, palms out, and began speaking in the secret tongue. Then, lowering his hands, he said, ”Brothers, our Chief has begun his journey to the Otherworld. What will you send with him?”
The first druid stepped forth, raised his branch and said, ”I bring alder, Foremost in Lineage, for a.s.surance.” With that he placed his branch against the bough-covered bier and stepped back.
”I bring dogwood,” said the next, ”Powerful Companion, for compa.s.sion.”
”I bring birch, Lofty Dreamer, for high-mindedness,” said the next, placing his branch against the bier.
”I bring hazel, Seed of Wisdom,” said another, ”for understanding.”
”I bring elm, Great Giver, for generosity.” And another placed his branch against the bier.
”I bring chestnut, Proud Prince, for regal bearing.”
”I bring ash, Stout-Hearted, for honesty.”
”I bring rowan, Mountain Lord, for fairness in judgment,” said another.
”I bring th.o.r.n.y plum, Invincible Warrior, for keenness of discernment.”
”I bring apple, Gift of Gwydyon, for reverence.”
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